South Korea’s Ministry of Unification yesterday added its voice to growing speculation around North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s succession plans, saying they have not “ruled out” that his daughter could be next in line to lead the nation.
Pyongyang state media on Saturday referred to Kim’s teenage daughter as a “great person of guidance” — hyangdo in Korean — a term typically reserved exclusively for top leaders and their successors.
Analysts said it was the first time Kim’s daughter — never named by Pyongyang, but identified as Ju-ae by South Korean intelligence — had been described as such by the North.
Photo: Reuters / Korean Central News Agency
It has redoubled speculation that the teen, who often appears next to her father at key public events, could have been chosen as the next leader of the nuclear-armed North, for a third hereditary succession.
“Usually the term hyangdo is only used to refer to the highest-ranking official,” unification ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam said at a briefing.
“We are not ruling out the possibility of Ju-ae’s succession,” he said, adding that Seoul was “monitoring the situation and remaining open to possibilities.”
However, he warned that if Ju Ae were to take her father’s place as the fourth leader of the reclusive state, “North Korean people will bear the brunt of the fallout.”
Ju-ae was first introduced to the world by state media in 2022, when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Since then, the North’s official outlets have referred to her in various ways, including the “morning star of Korea” and “beloved child.”
She has been seen at many of her father’s official engagements, including military drills, a visit to a weapons factory and a stop at a new chicken farm.
In an image released by Pyongyang on Saturday, Ju Ae was seen using binoculars to observe recent paratroop drills, standing beside her father and senior military officials.
Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013 and claimed he met a baby daughter of Kim called Ju-ae.
Seoul had initially indicated that Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, had their first child, a boy, in 2010, and that Ju-ae was their second child.
However, last year, Seoul’s unification minister said that the government was “unable to confirm for sure” the existence of Kim’s son.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
RSS